Homesick
by WritingIsMyLoveInLife
Summary: What happens when Keith finds Lance crying in the Control room? Klance, rating might change later depending how far I take this story.


Keith couldn't sleep.

This wasn't an uncommon occurrence for the red paladin, Keith often times just didn't sleep. He spent his other nights training and reading and sleeping maybe three to four hours after training just to keep his mind alert and awake.

Tonight was different though. Keith had a sense of dread running through him, a current of nervous energy that hadn't gone away for the last two hours. Try as he might, no amount of training, meditating or laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling, was gonna get him to sleep. He groaned as he resigned himself to a sleepless night, he had really been hoping to get some rest, and held up his hand to the sensor pad by his door.

The door slid open with a whoosh that resounded down the quiet halls, Keith's soft but steady footprints echoed down the empty halls of the castle and he shivered, wrapping the blanket he had brought with him around himself, as he made his way to the control room to see if anyone else was awake.

As Keith walked down the halls he began to zone out, thinking about the last few days. They had fought a huge battle two days ago against the Galra, they had freed the planet they were currently orbiting and just yesterday they had been thrown one of the biggest parades Keith had ever seen in his life. Especially one that had been thrown together in less then a day. Allura, Coran and Shiro had busied themselves talking with the leaders of the planet and negotiating a peace treaty and joining the coalition. Pidge and Hunk had run off with Matt to look at all the little shops and gifts the locals had to offer them, while Keith did what he did best and stayed out of everyone's way and Lance….

Keith froze suddenly as he thought back to the previous day. He didn't remember Lance even being there, but he must have been! Keith wracked his brain for where Lance had been that day and froze when he realized that the blue paladin had been standing off to the side, looking as out of place as Keith himself did. He suddenly realized what had been so different about that day, Lance was nowhere to be seen. Usually the outgoing blue paladin was all over the ship, bugging the shit out of anyone who would listen to him but Keith couldn't recall seeing him that day besides breakfast, what had happened?

Keith shook himself out of his thoughts when he realized that the observation deck and control room were lit up in a soft blue glow that made keith think of a really big nightlight and he frowned. Was there someone in there? It didn't look like it from where he was standing but he crept in anyway, wrapping his blanket around his shoulders a little tighter.

What he saw inside made him stop and stare in shock and awe. The whole room was filled with a star map of the entire Milky Way. No colours of red and green like they used to tell which planets were allied with them or the Galra, just the soft blue glow of the stars. Keith looked around and frowned when his eyes fell upon the huddled figure in the middle of the room. The green jacket and smooth yet ruffled brown hair told him exactly who it was and yet he didn't want to believe it.

He started to open his mouth but a sniffle and shoulders shaking as the figure curled up tighter and buried their head into their arms made him stop and hesitate for a second before he heard a soft whisper filling the room.

"I miss you guys so much." Lance whispered, reaching out a finger to touch the hologram of Earth that was right in front of him. "It was _Mamî's_ birthday today, I've been keeping track so I know how big you guys are getting. I cant believe I've been here for so long. I don't even know if you guys know I'm alive. But I am… I am alive and I think about you guys every single day."

Keith moved forward as Lance's voice trailed off into sobs and then in one quick decision he swung the blanket off his own shoulders and wrapped it around Lance as he sat down next to the sobbing blue paladin.

Lance jumped, not having noticed Keith standing there. "Ke-Keith?!" his voice was shaking, tight with emotion. "Wh-Wh-What are y-you doing here?"

Keith shushed him and wrapped an arm around the still shaking boy. "Couldn't sleep." he murmured. "Doesn't really matter. Whats up? You okay?"

Lance nodded, trying to pull himself together, moving to scoot away from Keith. "Yeah, just a long day…"

Keith tightened his arm around Lance and shook his head. "Lance, I heard you talking, you miss your family don't you?"

Lance froze at the mention of his family and his face fell once again from the stoic mask he had created for himself when Keith walked in the room. He clamped his lips shut and turned away from Keith, not saying a word, but Keith saw the tears starting to shine in his eyes again.

"You've been missing them a lot lately haven't you?" Keith spoke softly, trying his best to comfort his friend the way he could remember Shiro doing to him at the Garrison. "I noticed you weren't very happy at the parade the other day, and you haven't been around much today."

Lance slowly nodded, still keeping his head turned away and keeping his body held stiff, away from Keith as much as he could.

"You know you can come talk to us Lance," Keith ignored how Lance was trying to pull away, his shoulders beginning to tremble slightly, and gently started to rub circles on the blue paladins back. "We are always here for you to come talk to about anything, or just be there if you need us. Im sure Pidge and Hunk would be happy to hang with you and talk with you, as would Shiro and I."

"But you guys all have each other!" Lance burst out before he clamped his mouth shut again, looking chagrined at his outburst.

Keith frowned. "Lance you know you are a part of our group right? None of us is excluding you."

When Lance didn't respond, Keith grabbed his arm gently and tugged enough to get Lance's attention. "Come one Lance, look at me please."

Keith gasped softly when Lance turned to face him a minute later and tears were streaming down the dark skinned boys cheeks.

"Lance please, Keith shifted his weight so he was facing Lance and reached out a hand to cup Lance's cheek and wipe away a track of tears with his thumb. "Talk to me, what is going through your head right now?"

Lance only hesitated for a second before he opened his mouth and words came spilling out, almost faster then Keith could understand. "Pidge has Hunk and they do tech stuff with Matt and Shiro, Allura and Coran are always doing leadership stuff except when Shiro is training with you and I'm just over here by myself doing what I do best, being alone."

Keith opened his mouth to protest but he couldn't seem to get a word in with how fast Lance was going.

"I mean, I'm used to this at home, everyone is always off with somebody else and I get stuck watching the younger kids, thats what sucks about being the youngest-older child of the family. I should be fine with this happening here. Me, figuring out what to do on my own, without anyone else there for me."

Keith felt his heart drop as Lance continued to talk, seemingly not even taking a breath. Seriously how was he talking so much without breathing?

"But…" Lance's face fell as he finally took a breath. "At least at home, i saw my family for dinner each night, we watched movies together, we celebrated birthdays almost every month, every day had something. Here it's just kinda empty, more empty then I thought space could feel…"

Keith watches as Lance breaks off in a sob, glancing back at the hologram still in front of them, casting a blue light on their skin and around the whole room, he gently reached out and was shocked when Lance suddenly turned into him and curled up tighter into himself. "Lance…" he began and paused trying to figure out the best way to say what he wanted to say.

"Lance, why didn't you say anything?" He ended up asking, cursing his brain for not being good with words.

"I- I d-didn't wanna bo-bother anyone." Lance spoke through silent sobs and Keith didn't hesitate anymore. He pulled Lance into his lap with surprising strength and wrapped his arms around the younger boy.

"You are never gonna bother us to the point where we don't like you Lance." He whispered softly, pulling Lance close to his chest. "You are always gonna be our friend and our brother, we could never dislike you and you are never gonna be a bother. I will always be here for you, no matter what, I promise you that."

Lance stiffened as Keith wrapped his arms around him and for a minute Keith thought he had gone to far but a loud sob suddenly ripped itself from Lance's throat and he collapsed into Keith's arms and Keith found himself with an arm full of quivering, sobbing Lance. He was quick to comfort him, one hand snaking up to Lance's curly hair to gently run his fingers through the dark curls, and the other rubbing circles on his back. He let the blue paladin cry for almost twenty minutes before he noticed the sobs dying down, he glanced down to see Lance curled up with his face buried into Keith's neck and one arm wrapped around the red paladin while his other hand grabbed onto Keith's jacket with an iron grip.

"Lance?" Keith softly asked, brushing Lance's hair out of his face.

Keith didn't receive a reply, not a verbal one anyway. Lance shifted slightly and whimpered softly into Keith's neck as he slowly fell asleep.

"Get some rest buddy, everything's is okay." Keith murmured and gently laid back against the control panel, cradling Lance in his arms.


End file.
